Capital City Celebration Week

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Fence and Walk

Over the past month, the Iles House has acquired a new west and south face, consisting of a white picket fence and a laid sidewalk. The contractor for both projects is Tom Bundy, seen above speaking with Ann Hart, and below surveying the jobs as they near completion.

These additions, built with traditional materials and hands-on skills, continue our progress toward complete restoration of the House to its 1840s appearance.


Coming Attraction: on the evening of July 7, the Iles House will host an 1850s Strawberry Party. This event will precede an outdoor movie to be shown in the Lincoln Home area.

Iles School Events

Iles House recently hosted an event with alumni of the Iles Elementary School, located at 1700 South 15th Street in Springfield. On May 25, over 80 alumni and parents attended a reunion at the house. Arrangers of the event were principal Susan Rhodes and volunteers from the school parents' association. The school website has several pictures from the event along with more information about the school and its history.

Pictured here are Linda Sharpe, president of the Iles PTO; Susan Rhodes, principal of Iles School; and Stephanie Moore Chipman, an alumni parent. We look forward to sponsoring more events with Iles and other schools in the Springfield area.

Time to Remember

"Time to Remember," the Farrell Gay exhibit of memorabilia from the Illinois Watch Company, opened on June 1 with over 175 in attendance at the Iles House. The exhibit will be open for the public on Saturday from 10 to 4 and on Sunday from 12 to 4. Above are Farrell and Ann Gay, donors of the Springfield History Museum that forms the lower level of Iles House.

The Illinois Watch Company was once the largest employer in town and it influenced the growth of Springfield's north side. Founded by several prominent citizens in 1869, it manufactured watches until 1932. The factory building was a model workspace of clean, well-lit rooms and the company maintained an observatory for testing the accuracy of watches.

Curated by Ed Russo and Corine Fritch, the exhibit tells the story of a community enterprise that became nationally famous. Several attendees brought Illinois watches and remembered family members who had worked at the factory. One visitor displayed a watch made by her grandmother and bearing her inscribed initials.

This summer, Mr. Gay intends to invite relatives of those who worked at the factory for a special day of remembrance at the Iles House. We hope they will bring their own stories and memorabilia to share with those attending.

Story and pictures by Dick Hart.
For another account, see New Springfield by Larry Stevens.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, began in 1866 as a way to remember the dead of the Civil War. One of the earliest towns to establish the holiday was Carbondale, Illinois. Today the holiday commemorates all U. S. men and women who have died in military service.

At the Iles House, we are flying the flag today and also completing our wood fence, which along with the laid sidewalk give finishing touches to the Greek Revial house, built in 1827--nearly 180 years ago.

Please celebrate history, and enjoy the national holiday with your family and friends.

Spring Events

1. On Thursday, May 18, the Iles House became the venue for the Annual Judicial Reception of the Sangamon County Women's Bar Association. Over 90 lawyers and judges attended the event from 5:30 to 7:30. Carol Jean Fraesse catered the event and the spread was sumptuous, as you may see above.

2. On Wednesday, May 17, Anne Wilson-Dooley from Aurora, Illinois, paid a call. She is the mother of three and a descendant of Mr. Billington, who drew the 1858 map of Sangamon County hanging in our front hall. She also has Billington's diary for the year 1858 in which he describes his daily activities in preparing the map. Mrs. Wilson-Dooley is also related to a number of Springfield families, such as Brinkerhoff, Smith, Boardman, Wilson, and Billington.

3. The House is continuing to evolve in its appearance. Workmen are landscaping the front yard and also building a fence, which should be in place soon.

4. Iles House has become a popular location for a broad range of Springfield events and participants. We need volunteers who will donate their time to keeping the house open to visitors. If you enjoy local history and meeting the public, please call the Iles House and leave your name and number. (217) 492-5929

Pictures courtesy of Dick Hart, Iles House Foundation Board

Iles Family Descendants

On Saturday, May 13, the Iles House hosted a brunch for 50 descendants of Washington Iles, the brother of Elijah Iles. Family members, some from as far away as Texas and Connecticut, were in Springfield to observe the burial of Thelma Iles Teal at the Iles Family Plot in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

The family presented to the Iles House a pistol and holster once used by Elijah Iles. Washington Iles was a resident of Springfield and the owner of several farms, one of them now the site of the University of Illinois at Springfield.

We don't have the names of all these nice folks, but they are related by blood or marriage to Thelma Iles Teal, a charter member of the Elijah Iles House Foundation. For more information on Iles family history, see the Iles Family Genealogy Forum.

Photos courtesy of Dick Hart, Iles House Foundation board.

Elevator Fund: Going UP!

On April 18, over 130 people attended a dinner and fundraiser at the Inn at 825, sponsored by the Capitol Area Association of Realtors. The event launched a fund drive to pay for installation of an elevator at the Iles House, making it accessible to handicapped visitors.

Cherryl Dambacher, President of the CARR, served as master of ceremonies for the festive event. She set a goal of raising $10,000 for the elevator project, which will cost an estimated $80,000.

Dan Sale, Executive Director, recalled that in 1996 the CARR contributed $14,000 for relocation of the Iles House.

That early support was crucial, noted Dave Barringer, President of the Iles Foundation. “They were with us from the beginning and we appreciate their efforts to make Springfield’s oldest House accessible to everyone.”

Before dinner, a silent auction invited bids on over 50 items from local donors, such as a slide bracelet from Tobin Jewlers and a shirt from Joseph A. Banks. After dinner, a live auction proceeded on 25 donated items. Jeff Canterbury served as auctioneer, and with great humor he raised $3,500 in bids.

We are grateful to the CARR and Springfield’s realtors for their support. If you want to help raise funds for the elevator, please send your contributions to Iles House Foundation, P. O. Box 144, Springfield, Illinois 62705.

Donner Party Anniversary

The Elijah Iles House Foundation and the Sangamon County Historical Society recently held a joint meeting to mark a significant anniversary. One-hundred sixty years ago, on April 16, 1846, the Donner and Reed families formed a group who departed from the Public Square in Springfield for an ill-fated journey west.

Enduring great hardships, they managed to reach the Sierra Nevada mountains and then became trapped in winter snows. Without adequate shelter or food, many in the party died and the survivors resorted to cannibalism. Some eventually hiked out and alerted rescuers, who managed to save only 46 of the original 87 emigrants.

The anniversary speaker was Don Springer, a descendant of the Sangamon County Donner family. He recently placed a family heirloom at the Iles House. The flax spinning wheel has been in Don's family since the mid-19th Century.

Approximately 80 people attended the event, held in the lower level Farrell and Ann Gay Museum of Springfield History.

Memories of President Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln died on a Good Friday, April 14, 1865. An article in the New York Times today discusses this coincidence. Most 19th-century Christians hestitated to link the life of Jesus to any mortal, but in Lincoln's case, many speakers made that connection. Through years of trial and sacrifice, the President stood for Union, and now on the eve of victory, he had died for his people.

Walt Whitman wrote two poems on the death of Lincoln: one a sentimental lyric, "O Captain, My Captain," and the other "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," one of the great elegiac poems in English. Stanza 5 depicts the journey of the funeral train toward Springfield:

Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities,
Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the violets peep'd from the ground, spotting the gray debris,
Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes, passing the endless grass,
Passing the yellow-spear'd wheat, every grain from its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprisen,
Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards,
Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
Night and day journeys a coffin.

So a great martyr came home, dying in a season of growth and renewal. From this date on, his life belonged to the ages.

Smithsonian Tour

On April 3, the Iles House greeted 32 members of a Smithsonian Lincoln Legacy Tour. The group began in Washington D.C. and traveled by bus to Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, spending two days in Springfield.

Their leader was Edward Bearss, distinguished Civil War historian and author of the 1969 master plan for the Lincoln Home National Park. He is a master story-teller, as you may hear in this interview on the Smithsonian web site.

In this picture, "Elijah Iles" welcomes Mr. Bearss (left) and Dick Hart (right), Iles House board member and president of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
Hailing from all parts of the USA, tour members saw the Iles House at its best, candlelit with refreshments. Betty Franke gave each visitor a colorful gift bag containing a bottle of Illinois wine, a copy of her Prairie Cookbook, and reading matter from the ALA, Iles House, and Papers of Abraham Lincoln.

Mary Shepherd, Executive Assistant of the ALA, organized the event, generously assisted by Dave Barringer, Roger and Elizabeth Ricketts, David Stevens, and Linda Garvert. Chuck Campton gave up his bowling night to portray Elijah Iles, the gracious host.

The Iles House hopes to sponsor similar events in the future, greeting visitors to Springfield who come to see its remarkable preservation of antebellum history and culture.

Spring Events

On Monday, March 27, members of the Iles House board will attend a Historic House Colloquium at the Ellwood House Museum in Dekalb. This will be the second meeting of persons who work to preserve historic houses in central and northern Illinois.

From March 30 to April 7, Smithsonian Journeys will conduct a Legendary Lincoln tour through Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois for 32 participants.

On April 3, they arrive in Springfield and the Abraham Lincoln Association will host a cocktail reception at the Iles House that evening.

On April 19, the Board of Realtors will sponsor a fundraiser for an Iles House elevator. They have over 100 reservations for a buffet dinner and silent auction. This event is expected to raise $10,000 to pay for installing the elevator.

For more information on these events, call the Iles House at (217) 492-5929.

Photo: Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register

Springfield Blogs

On Disarranging Mine, Marie Carnes lists blogs that depict historic Springfield. Sites for readers interested in preservation include:

Look Back Springfield
Springfield Photos
Springfield Rewind
New Springfield
The Lyceum
Vachel Lindsay: Poet

The last three are by Larry Stevens, a champion of local history. Marie's list updates often, so see our "Links" list in the upper right column.

Fortunately, the March '06 tornado did not affect our historic districts. For recent stories and pictures, see the SHS '58 blog.

Springfield on Wikipedia

An amazing reference site on the Internet is Wikipedia, an "open source" encyclopedia that relies on users all over the world to write and edit its articles. Wikipedia operates on the belief that everyone knows something and that anyone may correct errors and improve prose. That may sound a little reckless, but for the most part the entries are full, detailed, and accurate.

For example, take a look at the entry on Springfield, Illinois. It presents all the basic facts, offers a survey of history, recognizes the famous buildings and citizens, and even alludes to the horseshoe and cozy-dog (but not Maid-Rite or Steak 'n Shake). At the end appear a series of links to maps and web sites, including our very own Iles House blog!

DS Digitals

Dulany Sriner has a web site, DS Digitals, where he presents photographs of local and regional scenes, including countryside, Lincoln sites, the Rees Carillon, and the Elijah Iles House.

The galleries are growing in size as he makes seasonal additions. Visitors may view slide shows of the pictures and order prints for a moderate cost. The Iles House pictures are of candlelit interiors and especially attractive.

Lincoln for the Ages

As the birthday of Abraham Lincoln nears on February 12, interest in him rises. A number of books have appeared in recent years that examine every aspect of his private life, from mental health to sexual preference.

The current issue of Slate magazine reviews two books that will be of more lasting value and deserve to be part of anyone's collection who admires Lincoln and early Illinois history.

They are Richard Carwardine, Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power and Allen Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President. Both are studies of Lincoln's religious thought, showing that he evolved considerably in his beliefs during the Civil War.

Good Web Sites: the Lincoln Log, a daily chronology of his life, and Lincoln Net, a large collection on antebellum Illinois.

Delano Law Offices

The death of Charles H. "Chick" Delano III on January 6, 2006, reminds us that he was a loyal supporter of historic preservation in Springfield. During the 1980s, he purchased the building at the corner of Sixth and Adams and restored it to a 19th-century appearance as Delano Law Offices.

The site has a long history. Elijah Iles and two partners built the American House Hotel there, known as "the finest three-story house west of the Alleghenies." Then Rheuna Lawrence, father of Susan Lawrence Dana, partially razed the building in 1880-81 and erected the present structure on the hotel's hand-fitted foundation.

Occupied by the John Bressmer drygoods store until 1921, the building later became Roland's, a clothing retailer. That store closed and the building sat in ill repair until Mr. Delano bought and restored it.

He was also a life-long member of Blessed Sacrament Church, where he supported expansion and renovation of that building, on Laurel between Walnut and Glenwood.

UIS Archives

As Springfield grows more active in preserving its heritage, local archives of historic material become increasingly important. In months to come we will feature some of these collections and the treasures they are safekeeping.

The Historical and Manuscript Collections at the University of Illinois at Springfield contain a wealth of papers and objects that document area and regional history.

From the collection home page, you may view a list of the items and then click through to use a finding aid or see an online exhibit.

One example is the collection of Robert Guymon, containing letters written by such eminences as Elijah Iles, Shelby Cullom, Jabez Capps, and Logan Hay. Included are a 1901 menu from the Leland Hotel, color snapshots of graves at Oak Ridge Cemetery, and a set of historic postcards of Springfield scenes, 1877-1911.

The card above depicts the Washington Park Pavilion, ca. 1906; below is downtown Fifth Street looking north, ca. 1905. The ironwork archway at Fifth and Washington is just visible at the rear, left of the old Illinois National Bank Building.

Winter Evenings

Iles House tours are becoming quite popular, with 300 to 500 guests turning out each weekend to admire the home by day or candle light, and also to see the holiday decorations.



On exhibit are rare items from the David Barringer Collection, described in an exhibition catalog prepared by Floyd Mansberger. The catalog is availble for sale at the House.



The house looks good by night or day, especially with a fresh coat of snow. Call (217) 492-5929 to inquire about tour hours.

All photos by Dulany Sriner and copyright 2005

More Candlelight

In the spirit of the holidays, here are more candlelight pictures of Iles House interiors by Dulany Sriner. He now has a web site available to offer prints of his excellent photos.

Two local history sites have recently come online: Springfield Rewind by Russ Friedewald and New Springfield by Larry Stevens, a great-grandson of Latham and Lyna Souther, former owners of the Elijah Iles House. Russ features changes in town architecture and Larry's interests include genealogy and Vachel Lindsay.

I am including permanent links to their sites on the right and to my SHS '58 blog, which often includes items on Springfield history. It's great to see so much interest in preserving our town's long and lively past.